Another Time, Another Place
by Kalanthe
Summary: After his brother's death the position of heir apparent to the Yotsuba clan became vacant, but being born unable to freely wield magic Shiba Tatsuya was passed over for his childhood friend and late brother's fiancé Hagakure Satsuki. Instead he becomes her guardian, however when extending the offer, was Satsuki's intentions to protect herself? Or to protect him?


_Please enjoy and leave a review, I do read them and take into consideration the feedback when writing :)_

**Another time, Another place**

_Shiba Tatsuya is the younger of Shiba Miya's two children, with his impressive academic record and military achievements as well as being Yotsuba Maya's nephew, in any other family he would have been hailed as a genius. However as a Born-Specialized Magician__, unable to freely wield magic until an experiment performed on him by his mother, he was considered a fake magician and an outcast. __After his elder brother's death the position as the heir apparent and the next head of the Yotsuba clan became vacant, despite being Yotsuba Maya's closest living relative Tatsuya was passed over for his best friend and his late brother's fiancé Hagakure Satsuki. _

_Unlike her childhood friend despite being born into a cadet branch Satsuki possessed exceptional magical abilities, inheriting both the mind manipulation and the warped calculation area traits of the clan, and is expected to surpass even Maya. Since her fiancé's death however, Satsuki has become increasingly unstable and temperamental. In order to control the unpredictable heiress, Maya suggests Tatsuya for the position as her guardian despite the fact that she clearly has no need for a bodyguard. _

_Tatsuya quickly accepts however, when extending the offer, were Satsuki's own intention to protect herself? Or to protect him?_

_**Chapter 1**_

"I can't accept this," said a male student.

"You're still going on about that...?" his female companion replied as she yawned.

It was early in the morning of the day of the school entrance ceremony, with two hours to go before the start of the ceremony. A woman was lying on a bench near the auditorium where the entrance ceremony was going to take place, having had just been woken from her nap, the daylight still too bright, she covered her eyes with one arm as she spoke. They were both freshmen, however their uniforms were distinctively different, on the female student's chest was the eight-petaled flower design of the First High School's emblem. That said emblem was not present on the male student's blazer.

"I'm not doing it," she insisted. "I really don't get it Tatsuya, why are you a reserve? Didn't you top the entrance exams? Typically speaking, the one who should become the freshman class representative should be you, not me, I didn't even study, my tests scores only put me in 4th place!"

"Putting aside the question of where you got hold of the entrance exam results and the fact that you didn't study despite the numerous times when I asked you if you had and you replied with 'yes'... Since this is a Magic High School, it's obvious that they would place more emphasis on practical magic skills rather than a paper tests, right? Satsuki, you are well aware of the extent of my practical abilities, aren't you? I'm quite surprised that I even got accepted here as a Course 2 student."

It was a scene where the male student was trying to pacify the female student who had been lashing out angrily with her sharp tongue. Her fit ended with her promptly crawling up into a ball and falling asleep for a few minutes while the male patiently waited for her to wake up.

Satsuki was stunningly beautiful, anyone who set their eyes on her would no doubt be captivated; ten out of ten people, no, even a hundred out of a hundred people both male and female. With long back hair, full lips and deep blue eyes set in a heart shaped. She was someone who had been told such her whole life and it showed in her posture and the way she held herself, she was confident and effortlessly elegant, the ideal noble maiden, although she was hardly either of those things. On the other hand, for the male, other than his erect back and piercing eyes, nothing in his ordinary appearance could be said to be in anyway attention-grabbing. Yet there was an aura about him, like a shinobi or a samurai, as if he was intentionally making himself appear mundane, only his female companion knew the truth, a truth that would never see the light of day because of her.

"How can you be so unsure of yourself?!" Satsuki demanded sitting up. She was livid, her hands trembled and gripped the bench, as she did cold frost emerged from her finger tips, covering the painted wood. "Even when there's no one who's a match for you in studies and taijutsu! The truth is, even for magic-"

"Satsuki," Tatsuya called out her name in an exceptionally strong tone, Satsuki shut her mouth but pouted, still frosting. He sat down behind her and reached for her hands, gently prying the bench out of her grip and held them in his. He looked at the spot where her hands had gripped, her magic so cold that it scorched the wood.

"You understand right? Even if you say that, it can't be helped." Satsuki nodded passively however he could tell from the look of anger in her eyes that it wasn't over. He put his hand on her lowered head and slowly stroked her glossy black hair, twirling a lock around his fingers while thinking. Now, what can I do to fix her mood? the young man pondered. "...I'm really happy you feel that way. I always feel that I'm being saved whenever you get angry in my place."

"Liar." Satsuki replied, not looking at him, she yanked her hair out of his grip.

"I'm not lying," Tatsuya insisted with a smile.

"Liar." she repeated. "It feels like you're always lecturing me about my temper..."

"I'm not lying. Even if you back out of giving the reply address, there is no way I'll be selected as a replacement. If you back out at this eleventh hour, you won't be able to avoid a blemish on your appraisal. You do understand that, right? Satsuki, you are a smart girl." She scoffed at that, a smart girl he called her, that coming from him...

"I don't care," she answered with a dangerous smile and Tatsuya instantly knew she meant it. She was that type of person after all, if you gave her three choices she'd go for the fourth. He was always terrible at convincing her to do anything, unlike his brother... If only Tetsunosuke was here, like his name sake he had a will of iron that withstood through even Satsuki's hot temper give way. No, there was no use bring up the dead now, it'd been a year and while his death didn't really affect Tatsuya himself, loosing her fiancé had changed Satsuki, perhaps bring up the dead was exactly the push she needed.

"Satsuki, I'm looking forward to it, and I'm sure my brother would have as well. He would have been in his second year now wouldn't he?" he said with a small smile, Satsuki tensed at the mention of the late Shiba Tetsunosuke. "He came in second in his class last year so he never got the chance."

"He came in second because like you he wasn't suppose to bring unnecessary attention upon himself," Satsuki replied quietly, her mood only darkening. His words only had the opposite effect. "I get what your trying to do Tatsuya, so stop it, you're brilliant at everything except when it comes to emotions."

Tatsuya was at a loss for what to do, he really wasn't well equipped in dealing with such situations, all the scenarios he ran in his head ended with her either angry or crying it seemed. If it was anyone else, he'd have no problem manipulating them into doing his bidding, but not her, she saw through everything he did. They were childhood friends after all, in the loosest interpretation of the words, in later years it became more of a master and servant relationship, and to his ignorance, one which made her extremely uncomfortable.

Tatsuya was a normal child like anyone else until what his mother did to him, the cheerful little boy that he used to be was burned deep into Satsuki's memories. THAT boy was her best friend, not the machine in front of her. They used her in the procedure, making her part of what maimed him, it made her feel disgusting, being the reason he was the way he was. They'd forcibly altering the area in the consciousness that created strong emotions and replaced it with a Magic Calculation Model, creating an artificial Magician. With the woman responsible dead, only Yotsuba Maya and Hagakure Satsuki knew that the model implanted inside of Tatsuya came from Satsuki, his mother had essentially cut and pasted a portion of her consciousness into him along with her magical abilities. As a result, despite no longer feeling any strong emotions like fury, despair, envy, hatred, disgust, gluttony, lust and sloth, he still retained his brotherly love for his best friend.

Satsuki hated them, they used her to bind him to the Yotsuba clan, would he hate her if he ever learnt of her part in what had happened to him? No, she doubted he would even care. She resented herself for the way she felt about Tatsuya, it wasn't his fault but it wasn't hers either, yet it didn't stop her from lashing out against him and every single time he'd forgive her, because to him she was the only person he loved, the only person who mattered. It should make her feel escalated, however it only made things worse, he didn't love her in the way she loved him. As a result of what his mother did, he never would and she hated herself for it, because at the end of the day, it was her fault. While she had the power to free him she would never use, she was an horrible person preferring Tatsuya be beside her as a solider than see him live happily ever after with someone else. She really was a truly hateful person.

"Satsuki?" Tatsuya asked as he reached out and touched her cheek gently. Sataki leaned in against his hand before resting her forehead against his collarbone, taking in him warmth and scent. Without even thinking he placed an arm around her and gently stoked her shoulder, comforting her without knowing why she needed comforting.

Why is he is good to me? Satsuki thought to herself, she was a terrible human being but she told herself that she loved him more than anyone else to justify her actions. The mentioning of her late fiancé Tetsunosuke made her think of one of the stories he'd tell her at night, of the princess and the knight who fell in love. When the king discovered them together he threw the knight into a pit with two doors and gave the princess the choice to which would open. One led to a den of hungry lions who would eat and devour the knight, the other to a maiden with whom he could spend the rest of his life with happily ever after. When asked which door the princess should choose, Satsuki chose the lion's door, she didn't understand how anyone would willingly let the one they loved live happily ever after with someone else. He only laughed, when she asked him the same question he had a different answer. Tetsunosuke said that she was young but would one day understand, he then kissed her and their attention was diverted elsewhere. She missed him... Satsuki finally sighed.

"I'll do it, okay?" She said giving in, Satsuki pulled away from Tatsuya and stood up.

"Of course, break a leg. I'll be looking forward to your performance." He replied, puzzled by her sudden change in attitude and continuing darkening mood.

"Well then, I'll be taking my leave."

The young woman ran her fingers through her hair, and disappeared into the auditorium first to prepare for her speech. After ascertaining that she had left, the young man breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you a new student? It's almost time for the ceremony," said a female voice.

The first thing that came into view was the skirt of a uniform. Following that, wrapping around her left arm was a wide bracelet. Broader and thinner than a standard bracelet, it was the latest model of a CAD that was made with fashion in mind. According to Tatsuya's memory, the only students who were allowed to constantly carry a CAD within the school compounds were either executive members of the student council or particular committee members.

"Thank you, I'll be on my way," he answered. He made a note to himself to remember to tell Satsuki of this encounter, despite her confident demeanour she was the insecure jealous type and would be deeply hurt if she thought he was hiding something from her and that was the last thing he wanted. On the left breast of the female's was of course the eight-petaled flower emblem. He did not hide his own flowerless emblem, he had his pride and would not perform such a cowardly act, above all Satsuki would be furious if he did. Somehow, it seemed like this upperclassman had an uncommonly sociable personality. Judging from her tone and speech, she seemed to be getting friendlier and had no intention of letting him leave just yet.

"Ahh, I beg your pardon. I'm the student council president of the First High School, Saegusa Mayumi. Written as 'seven grass,' read as Saegusa. Nice to meet you." Even though she added a wink at the end, there was not a hint of wonder in her tone. She was no doubt a pretty girl with a well-proportioned body despite her small frame, and radiated such an alluring atmosphere that it would not be surprising if newly matriculated male students misunderstood her intentions.

Tatsuya, who had grown up with someone whom he genuinely believed to be the most beautiful person in the world, paid her appearance no mind and upon hearing her self-introduction involuntarily frowned. She was from a numbered family... and to top it off, a 'Saegusa'. A Magician's ability was greatly influenced by heredity and a Magician's qualities was greatly related to his or her lineage. In Japan the houses that possessed a superior blood lineage in magic by tradition carried a number in their family name and among them the Saegusa was one of the two houses deemed to be the most powerful in this country currently. The young woman who was the student council president of this school was no doubt of their direct descent. In other words, she was an elite among elites, her lineage surpassed even Satsuki's. The exact opposite of him. Tatsuya held back a bitter mutter, he could practically hear Satsuki's voice in his ear 'I don't care if she's the queen of fucking Narnia, man up and step up!' (she had a love for 20th century english literature) which helped Tatsuya to bring out a courteous smile and reply with his name.

"I'm, no, my name is Shiba."

"Shiba Tatsuya-kun... I see. You are that Shiba-kun huh..." The student council president's eye went wide with surprise before she nodded meaningfully. Tatsuya did his best not to think about the 'that' she just used before his name and politely kept quiet. "Among the teachers, you have been quite a hot topic," the student council president said with a cheerful smile, appearing unconcerned with Tatsuya's silence.

It was probably due to how rare it was for one to top the written test yet completely flunk the practical portion, thought Tatsuya. However, no such incredulity nor negative emotion could be sensed from her. He could feel no sign of ridicule embedded in that smile, only a friendly positivity emanating from Saegusa Mayumi which confused him.

"Out of a hundred marks, the average mark of all seven subjects in your entrance exam was ninety-six. Especially outstanding were Magic Theory and Magic Engineering. Even though the average mark of those who passed was no more than seventy, you received a perfect grade without a hitch for both subjects that had essay-based questions. It's an unheard of record high."

"Those are merely paper test results. They are just data inside an information system," Tatsuya's modestly replied and pointed to his own left chest. In the appraisal of magic high school students, more emphasis was given to the practical results.

However, Saegusa Mayumi shook her head with a smile at Tatsuya's words. "That kind of terrific score, at the very least, I won't be able to reproduce that, you know? I may not look like it, but I'm really much stronger in theory-based subjects. If my entrance exam had the same questions, I definitely wouldn't be able to score such a high mark like you, Shiba-kun." They were words he'd heard Satsuki tell him many times over however having them come from someone with whom he shared no emotion bond with fave then a different meaning.

"It's about time... please excuse me." Tatsuya took his leave from the student council president who seemed to have something more to say, and turned his back towards her without waiting for her reply. Somewhere in his heart, he feared the smiling face of Saegusa Mayumi, and what might happen if he were to continue talking to her. Even though he was not conscious of what exactly he was afraid of.

* * *

><p>As a result of the conversation with the student council president, by the time Tatsuya entered the auditorium, more than half the seats were already filled up.<p>

As there was no seat designation he was free to sit anywhere however, there was clearly an order to the distribution of seats for the freshmen. The first half at the front were taken up by the Blooms. The students who wore the eight-petaled flower emblem on their left breast. The freshmen who would be able to receive the full benefits of the curriculum of this school. The second half at the back were taken up by the Weeds. The students whose left breast were left blank. The freshmen who were only allowed to enrol in this school as reserves. Even though they were all freshmen who were becoming students at the school on the very same day, they were already cleanly divided. It was certainly a kind of common sense in itself. With no intention of standing out and openly going against the flow, Tatsuya chose at his own discretion an empty seat near the back row of seats and sat down.

Tatsuya thought about his temperamental best friend who should be, but most likely wasn't, doing her final rehearsal at this time, he shook his head in resignation. That girl was incapable of becoming flustered even right before the main event no matter how ill prepared she was. In the end with nothing to do, he adjusted and sat himself upright on the hard seat and closed his eyes. Just as he was about to slip into a nap, a voice asked.

"Er, is the seat beside you occupied?" He opened his eyes, just as he thought, the voice had been directed at him. As expected from the voice, it was a female student.

"Help yourself," he replied even though he was bewildered as to why she purposely chose to sit beside a random male student, despite the fact that there were still many empty seats available. The young woman had a slender build, and thus Tatsuya did not feel any unease with her sitting beside him. Rather, it was much more comfortable than if a grimy muscle block were to sit beside him. Thinking about that, Tatsuya gave a polite nod.

"Thank you," the young woman nodded as she took her seat. Beside her, another young women sat down. "Er..." The voice called out to Tatsuya again, who had turned back to facing the front after having no further interest in the same year student beside him with whom he had just met by chance.

What on earth does she want? He wondered. Clearly, she wasn't an acquaintance, nor did he bump her elbow or foot. If Tatsuya were to say it himself, he was sitting with good posture. He shouldn't have done anything that would warrant a complaint but—

"I'm Shibata Mizuki. Nice to meet you." Unexpectedly, she introduced herself, in a timid tone, to Tatsuya who cocked his head. Even though he made it a rule not to judge someone by their appearance, she didn't seem to be the type who was good at impressing others.

She probably forced herself to do it, Tatsuya judged. With the thought that they would need to help one another since they were both disadvantaged Course 2 students.

"I'm Shiba Tatsuya. Nice to meet you too." Upon returning a soft introduction as he thought about that, the eyes beyond those large lenses appeared relieved.

In this era, it was quite rare for girls to wear glasses. Since the middle of the twenty-first century, as a consequence of vision correction procedures becoming widespread, the ailment known as myopia had become a thing of the past in this country. If she was wearing glasses despite this, it could be because it was her hobby, a fashion accessory, or due to 'over-sensitivity to spirit particle emission'. From his impression of this young woman, rather than wearing them for fashion, it was more probable that she was wearing those glasses because of a particular need. People who suffered from the hereditary disorder, showed symptoms of being oversensitive to spirit particle emission, to magicians it was not that rare of a condition. However, it was rare to see a person who had it such that they needed to constantly block the spirit particle emission with glasses. It would not be of much concern if it was because of a lesser manipulative ability, but if it was due to an extremely superior sensitivity, then it would be bad news for Tatsuya.

Tatsuya had a secret. It was a secret that could not be uncovered from his outward appearance alone, and as such, not of concern, but, if she did have those special eyes then his secret might be discovered by random chance. He would need to be much more alert and act cautiously whenever she was around.

"I'm Chiba Erika. Nice to meet you, Shiba-kun." The voice of the young woman sitting beside Mizuki cut off Tatsuya's trail of thought.

"Nice to meet you too."

"But, can I say that this is an interesting coincidence?" Different from her friend, Erika appeared to be an extrovert and of an unreserved type which was only amplified by her short, bright hair and her distinct facial features.

"What is?"

"Well, you know, we are Shiba, Shibata, and Chiba, right? Don't they rhyme somehow? Though they are a little different."

"…I see." Tatsuya could understand what she meant by that but it was something that people general didn't bother to point out. Her last name though, Chiba, was she another numbered one? He thought to himself. I didn't know that the Chiba House had a daughter by the name of 'Erika'. Interesting… however he felt no need to pursue to subject, after all, what did it matter to him?

* * *

><p>Satsuki stretched her neck gently as she prepared to walk on stage to give her speech, it wasn't because she was nervous but because she had slept in a funny position when taking her nap and the muscles in her neck and back had tensed as a result. She did her best to disguise the boredom and pure lack of interest in the people who came up to her and introduced themselves, she had an image to maintain after all, while not publicly known, she was the heiress to the Yotsuba clan and as a member of the 10 families there was a standard that was expected of her. Not from her peers or teachers but from the family elders who would no doubt watch a recording of this and from the head of the clan herself. No matter, it was just a speech, easy enough, she hadn't prepared a speech and had every intention of making things up as she went but Tatsuya had gone to the trouble to write down a list of phrases for her to use so she intended to use those.<p>

"You don't seem very nervous," someone commented. Stasuki turned around to see a rather handsome male student smiling at her, on his left breast was the same flower emblem as her own and on his shoulder was a red band signifying that he was a member of the discipline committee. Aside from a select few students, no one was allowed backstage however it seemed that he was part of the security detail. 'What did he want?' was the first question Satsuki asked herself.

"Not at all," She replied, it was immodest if she said anything else after all. "I'm absolutely terrified." As he didn't introduce himself she felt no need to do so either, no doubt he already knew who she was, after all there was only one freshman representative, she didn't care enough to ask him for his name either.

"Well you hide it well," he assured her. "Good luck," he added before returning to his patrol.

Satsuki frowned as she watched him walk off, was that all he wanted? To wish her luck? She shook her head, no matter…

* * *

><p>Satsuki's orientation address was outstanding as expected, even if Tatsuya did say so himself as it was him who had written down a list of key words and phrases for her to use last minute when he learnt that she was not going to show up. However, despite being underprepared Tatsuya never had the slightest thought that she would fumble at something like this, at least not accidentally. Even though he had included a number of dangerous phrases like "everyone alike", "as a single body", "aside from magic" or "in an integrated manner", it came down to the way she managed to set them up properly that they didn't sound cheesy in any way.<p>

Satsuki's seemingly open, innocent and modest demeanour coupled with her stunningly beautiful appearance, had captured the hearts of not just the males, the freshmen, but the upperclassmen as well and she would no doubt be surrounded from tomorrow onward. That was not an unusual thing. However Satsuki had no patience for crowds, she dislike humans in general and while she would no doubt do her best to maintain the ladylike image she'd been reared to project, Satsuki would slowly isolate herself from the rest of her class.

Why did she always do it? Tatsuya pondered. It almost felt like she was punishing herself. He wanted to commend her immediately, but he knew that she would be swarmed by people doing exactly that and him contributing to the chaos was the last thing she'd want, he would wait for her to fight the crowd and then listen to her complain about the human race later.

"Shiba-kun, which class are you in?" Erika asked with a face that could not hide her excitement.

"Class E."

"Yay! We are in the same class." Erika hopped up and down happily. In Tatsuya's eyes however it felt like she was overdoing it.

"I am in the same class as well." Mizuki added with a similar expression.

"What shall we do? Shall we go take a look at our homeroom as well?" Erika asked.

Tatsuya shook his head at Erika's invitation. "Sorry. I'm meeting up with my friend." There were no lessons and he had agreed to go home together immediately after the procedures were done with Satsuki who had no intention of staying longer than she had to.

"Eeehh… if Shiba-kun is turning down the invitation of two very cute girls she must be something special?" On hearing Erika's thoughtful and questioning murmur Tatsuya was troubled as to how he should answer her. For one thing, how did she know his friend was a girl? He felt that he couldn't quite connect the cause and effect. Fortunately, he didn't need to force himself to answer.

"Could your friend be… the representative of the freshmen, Hagakure Satsuki-san?" A nod from Tatsuya was enough to confirm the answer to that question.

"Eh? Really?" Erika remarked. "Hmm… I guess that really makes things complicated huh? With a girlfriend who is such high achiever in the same school year." Tatsuya originally decided to let the remark slide but in the end corrected that she was not his girlfriend.

"That aside, how did you know?" On hearing Tatsuya's question the two young ladies smiled faintly but didn't reply.

"The way you were starring at her?" Erika finally piped up with a smirk.

"That's not it. Hmm, how should I put it…" Mizuki couldn't quite put it into words. "It's your aura I guess. Your two seem… balanced together I guess is the best way to put it."

"That's right! Aura, it's your aura." Slapping her own thigh, Erika gave a strong nod as well. "You two seem well acquainted."

This time, it was Tatsuya's turn to smile. "Chiba-san… you seem to be someone who gets carried away easily, correct?"

"Carried away? You're so cruel," Erika started protesting but judging from her tone, she wasn't really upset.

"Tatsuya!" The trio were talking in the corner near the exit of the auditorium, Satsuki's voice called out as she slipped out from the crowd surrounding her. He was surprised she'd put up with them for as long as she did. Even though Satsuki had been raised to never shy away from socialising, she was an introverted person and crowds tired her out. Not only that, she hated flattery and compliments, she already knew she was pretty and her speech was excellent, she didn't need you to tell her again and again. Tatsuya had intend to say "You were quick" before he could he noticed the person standing behind her.

"Hello Shiba-kun. We meet again." In response to that disarming smiling face Tatsuya merely nodded his head silently in response. Satsuki hadn't seemed to register that the student council president stood behind her and appeared to be more bothered by the two young ladies who were snuggled up intimately beside Tatsuya.

"Tatsuya, they are…" He could tell right away that she was cranky, be it from hunger or from having to talk to other human beings he wasn't certain, however he sensed danger and immediately responded with.

"This is Shibata Mizuki-san. And that is Chiba Erika-san. We're in the same class."

"Hmmm, I see, isn't it a little too soon to be dating your classmates?" Satsuki smiled as she asked the question however it didn't reach her eyes. Oh dear, thought Tatsuya. He was aware of how possessive of him she was, however she seemed less tolerant than usual as her patience had be used up dealing with the crowd of people surrounding her.

"There's no way that could happen, right, Satsuki? We were just chatting while waiting for you," he insisted.

The coldness in her eyes didn't fade, instead the smile on her lips widened as she walked towards his new classmates. Her fingers catching his as she passed, an action that wasn't missed by anyone. "Hello, Shibata-san, Chiba-san. I am Hagakure Satsuki, it's a pleasure to meet you, I'm also a freshman just like Tatsuya, so I look forward to being in your care."

"I am Shibata Mizuki. Same here, I also look forward to being in your care."

"Nice to meet you. You can just call me Erika. Can I call you Satsuki?"

"Yes, please do," Satsuki replied, her smile oozing with charm.

"Ah-ha, Satsuki, I didn't expect you to be so sociable from your outward appearance."

"You are just as candid as you appeared to be. Nice to meet you, Erika," Tatsuya could have sworn her heard a back handed slap in that comment somewhere but he couldn't pinpoint it, perhaps there was none. Satsuki had a rather straight forward personality once you got to know her and it was understandable that she would be quite fond of Erika's frank attitude.

Tatsuya could not help but feel slightly jelous of that, however his attention was drawn to the student council president who waited patiently while Satsuki, in his eyes, blatantly ignored her. "Satsuki, are you done with your business with the student council? If you are not, I can go kill some time myself, you know?"

"It's fine," it was Saegusa Mayumi who had replied. "I'm here just to say hello for today. Satsuki-san… may I call you that as well?"

"Ah, yes." Perhaps it was because he'd known her for so long, but Tatsuya was surprised that no one else noticed the reluctance in her voice as Mayumi addressed her, her unreserved smile replaced by a solemn expression, her poker face concealing her true feelings. She didn't like her, Tatsuya instantly realised. Why was that? Underneath the polite demeanour that she had carefully cultivated over the years Satsuki was clearly upset and tired, she wanted people to leave her alone, she wanted to go home, was it only because of that? If not, what else could it be? He'd learnt to trust her instincts however skewed they were but still couldn't understand why she was suddenly on alert, their cover stories and identities gave nothing away, he made sure of it, even if Mayumi was from one of the Ten families they had nothing to worry about.

"Well then Satsuki-san, we'll catch up on another day." Mayumi bade goodbye with a smiling face and started to make her exit out of the auditorium. However, one of the accompanying male students called Mayumi to a stop. On his chest, blooming proudly as if it were a natural thing, was an eight-petaled flower emblem.

"But President, what about the schedule on our side..."

"We didn't really make an appointment beforehand. If she already has another engagement, she should give that priority, right?" The male student appeared to want to press further but was restrained by her eyes, Mayumi gave a meaningful smile to Satsuki and Tatsuya. "Well then Satsuki-san, I shall take my leave. Shiba-kun as well, I'd love to catch up with you one of these days." After bidding them off again, Mayumi left. However, the male student who was following behind her turned around and glared at Tatsuya so hard it was as if one could hear his tongue clicking.

"…Now, shall we go back?" Tatsuya asked, he'd grown used to such hostilities and was more worried about how to explain to Satsuki how he knew the student council president. Satsuki's attention however was the former.

"The little-" she cut herself off before she finished the sentence, they were in company after all and she had an image to maintain but he could tell she was upset. Tatsuya brought his hand up and pushed a section of her hair behind her ear, he twirled the end of the lock around his finger before letting go.

"Calm down," he said quietly in her ear. Satsuki pouted and rested her forehead against his chest, out of pure habit he wrapped an arm around her shoulders to comfort her. Erika and Mizuki exchanged looks at the open display of affection but said nothing.

* * *

><p>When they returned home there was no one to welcome them, the vastly large manor in which they resided in housed only Satsuki and Tatsuya. Tatsuya made his way to his room and took off his uniform. He didn't want to believe that such a 'makeshift mantle' could affect him, but after taking off the blazer his shoulders immediately felt a little lighter. As he was relaxing in the living room working on a project for Four Leaves Technology, before long Satsuki, who had finished changing as well, came down from her room.<p>

With a sigh she immediately deposited herself on his lap and curled up against him, manoeuvring her body so that she didn't interfere with his work, Tatsuya gently patted her back to comfort her. While a social person Satsuki preferred to be alone, the only exception to this was Tatsuya, as he sat and worked she closed her eyes and buried herself in his embrace wanting nothing more than to just be by his side.

They didn't speak, not even when he felt her tears dampen his shirt, he didn't need to ask, he though he didn't know why she was crying, instead he just held her in his arms, that was all he could do for her after all, be by her side.


End file.
